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Noticed a bunch of competent albums in the "2009 Recommended" thread, which I think are fine and all but did not want to give the weight of a ^this (e.g. Joy Formidable, Metric) lest I dilute the strength of my recommendations. Got me thinking about other albums I've heard but didn't recommend (for whatever reason) and that no one else seems to have recommended. E.g.

It's not surprising that some of the above haven't made it onto the list simply because of how the credibility factor potentially creeps into people's recommendations (e.g. U2, even Lily Allen and Placebo?). Others are a little more surprising, given their relative anticipation amongst the DiS crowd (e.g. Silversun Pickups, Asobi Seksu, even Howling Bells?).

So, in the interest of getting a better picture of what people have been listening to but don't feel inclined to publicly endorse, tell us about the albums not on the recommendations list that you have/have listened to but did not recommend/this. What are they and why didn't you recommend them?

don't mean to suggest that the only reason why someone wouldn't recommend, say, the U2 album is that they're concerned with keeping up appearances — just mean that some vague sense of collective taste kind of "rules out" some possibilities in advance.

I heard 'I Knew' and couldn't get it out of my head, its one of the best songs I've heard in ages; the rest of the album? not so good...
Howling Bells: Radio Wars. That multi-coloured album cover said it all; away with the PJ Harvey gothic awesome-ness, in with big radio-friendly production. Oh dear...
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs - Its good, just too pedestrian!
The Thermals - their new album just flat out stank.

Maniac, Noctrunal, Swindle... but I thought one grime instrumental CD was enough for DiS so just put the legend that is Terror Danjah plus he's probibly been in Wire magazine and lots of people read that one here, his album is awsome too.